He and the men spent a few moments talking about some of the unique challenges of working in the construction industry in Southern California.
“Have you ever thought about moving your operations out to this neck of the woods?” Chase asked. “We don’t have a lot of hospitals and the like going up, but there are always construction projects around here, especially in the Jackson area.”
The question took him by surprise. Three months ago he would have given an emphatic no to that question. He had a business in Southern California, contacts and subcontractors and jobs he had fought hard to win.
He glanced at Olivia. He had other things to concern himself with now, like what might be best for his daughter.
Small-town life seemed to agree with her, he had to admit. Maybe she would be able to heal better if she were away for longer than just a few weeks from the life they had both known in California.
A change of scenery appeared to have helped the Nichols sisters move beyond the trauma in their past.
“I haven’t,” he answered truthfully. “It’s definitely something to think about.”
He glanced across the table to see Celeste listening in, though she was pretending not to.
What would she think if he stuck around town a little longer than a few weeks?
Probably nothing, he told himself. They meant nothing to each other.
“What are you doing with that property of your grandmother’s?” Mary asked.
“I’m hoping to put it up for sale in the next few weeks.”
“You’re not planning to subdivide it, are you?” she asked, her gaze narrowed.
He could probably make more money if he did that, but somehow he didn’t think his grandparents would approve.
“That’s a nice piece of land there by the Cold Creek,” Brannon said. “Somebody could build a beautiful house on it if they were so inclined.”
If he were going to stay here—which he most definitely wasn’t, based on a simple dinner conversation—he probably would take the bones of the house and add on to it, opening up a wall here or there and rebuilding the kitchen and bathrooms.
It was a nice, comfortable house, perfectly situated with a gorgeous view of the mountains, but it was too small and cramped for comfort, with tiny rooms and an odd flow.
All this was theoretical. He planned to sell the property as-is, not take on another project. He had enough to do right now while he was helping his daughter recover the shattered bits of her life and learn to go on without the mother she had adored.
The conversation drifted during the dinner from topic to topic. The Nicholses seemed an eclectic group, with wide-ranging interests and opinions. Even the children joined in the discussion, discussing their projects at school, the upcoming show, the movie deal they were celebrating.
He was astonished to discover he enjoyed every moment of it. This was exactly what a family should be, he thought, noisy and chaotic and wonderful.
He had never known this growing up as an only child whose parents had stayed together much longer than they should have. He had learned to live without a family over the years, but it made his chest ache that his daughter would never have it, either.
* * *
Her sisters were matchmaking.
Celeste could tell by the surreptitious glances Faith and Hope sent between her and Flynn, the leading little questions they asked him, the way they not-so-subtly discussed the upcoming movie deal, careful to focus on Celeste’s literary success, as if they were trying to sell a prize pig at the market.
It was humiliating, and she could only hope he hadn’t noticed.
How could they possibly think Flynn might be interested in her in the first place? If they had bothered to ask her, she would have explained how ludicrous she found the very idea.
They didn’t ask her, of course. They’d simply gone ahead and invited the poor man to dinner. Why he agreed to come, she had no idea. By the time dessert rolled around, she still hadn’t figured it out—nor did she understand how he and Olivia seemed to fit in so effortlessly with her family.
Hope and Faith and Aunt Mary all liked him, she could tell, and Chase and Rafe treated him with courtesy and respect.
As for her, she liked having the two of them here entirely too much.
She tried to reel herself back, to force herself to remember this was only temporary. They were only at the ranch for the evening. Her sisters’ matchmaking intentions were destined to failure. Not only wasn’t he interested in her, but he had made it abundantly clear he was going back to California as soon as he could.
“Practice went well, don’t you think?” Hope asked, distracting her from that depressing thought. “The kids seemed to be into it, and what I heard was wonderful.”
“It won’t win any Tony Awards, but it should be fun,” she answered.
“With all you have going on around here, I still can’t figure out why you decided to throw a show for local senior citizens,” Flynn said.
Hope took the chance to answer him. “We’ve always had so much community support over the years here at The Christmas Ranch, from the very moment Uncle Claude opened the doors. The people of Pine Gulch have been great to us, and we wanted to give back a little. I guess we picked senior citizens because so many of them feel alone during the holiday season.”
“Many of these people have been friends with me and my late husband for years,” Mary added. “This seemed a good chance to offer them a little holiday spirit.”
“I think it’s nice,” Louisa declared. “So do my friends. That’s why they agreed to do it.”
Celeste smiled at her niece, who had a very tender heart despite the tragedy of losing her father.
“I do, too,” she answered.
“Is Sparkle going to show up at the party?” Barrett asked.
“I think we’re going to have to see about that next week,” Faith answered her son. “He’s been acting a little down the past few days.”
Celeste frowned at her sister. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked, alarmed.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing,” she answered. “He’s just off his feed a bit. I ended up bringing him up here to his stall at the main barn to see if being back with the horses for a day or two would cheer him up.”
Sparkle had a particularly soft spot for Mistletoe, an old mare who used to be Uncle Claude’s. “I’m sure that’s it,” Celeste said.
“Maybe he just misses you, CeCe,” Hope suggested. “You haven’t been down to see him in a while.”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “Right. I’m sure he’s pining away.”
It was true that she and Sparkle were old friends. The reindeer was warm and affectionate, far more than most of their small herd.
“You ought to go down to the barn to say hello while you’re here,” Faith suggested.
“Can I go meet Sparkle?” Olivia asked, her eyes huge as she followed the conversation. “I would love to.”
She had told the girl she would take her to meet the inspiration for the books she loved so much. “He enjoys company. I’m sure he would love to meet you.”
“Can we go now?” the girl pressed.
She looked at the table laden with delicious dishes she had done nothing to help prepare. Yes, she could claim a good excuse—being busy directing the show and all—but Uncle Claude and Aunt Mary had always been clear. If you didn’t help cook a meal, you were obligated to help clean it up.
“I need to help clear these dishes first,” she said.
“Oh, don’t worry about this,” Faith said.
“Right. We can take care of things,” Hope insisted.
“Yes, dear,” Aunt Mary added. “We’ve got this completely covered. It won’t take a moment to clean this up. Meantime, why don’t you take our guests down
to the barn to meet Sparkle?”
Who were these women and what had they done with her family members? She frowned, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at all of them for their transparent attempts to push her together with Flynn. For heaven’s sake, what did they think would possibly happen between the two of them with his daughter along?
“I don’t know,” Flynn said, checking his watch. “It’s getting late.”
“It’s not even eight o’clock yet!” Olivia protested. “Since I don’t have to get up for school, I haven’t been going to bed until nine thirty.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“So we can go?”
He hesitated, then shrugged. “If Celeste doesn’t mind taking us. But we can’t stay long. She’s already had a long day.”
“Oh, yay!” Olivia jumped up instantly from the table and headed for her coat.
“Does anyone else want to go down to the barn with us?” Celeste asked.
She didn’t miss the way Barrett practically jumped out of his chair with eagerness but subsided again with a dejected look when his mother shook her head firmly.
Oh, she hoped Flynn hadn’t noticed her crazy, delusional, interfering sisters.
He rose. “We’ll probably need to head out after we stop at the barn. It’s late and I have to get this young lady home to bed, whatever she says.”
“Understandable,” Aunt Mary said with a warm, affectionate smile for both of them.
With a sweet, surprising charm, he leaned in and kissed her aunt’s plump cheek. “Thank you for the delicious meal. We both truly enjoyed it.”
She heard a definite ring of truth to his words, even as he looked a little surprised by them. She had the feeling he hadn’t expected to enjoy the meal—which again made her wonder why he had agreed to come.
“You are most welcome,” Aunt Mary said. “I hope both of you will come again before you return to California. Your grandmother was a dear, dear friend, and I miss her terribly. Having you and your daughter here helps ease that ache a little.”
He looked touched. “I miss her, too. I only wish I could have visited her more the past few years.”
Mary patted his hand. “She told me you called her every Sunday night without fail, and sometimes during the week, too. She was very proud of that fact, especially as so many young people these days get so busy with their lives that they forget that their parents and grandparents might be a touch lonely without them.”
“A phone call was nothing. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of her friends here in Pine Gulch who helped keep her busy and involved.”
Celeste liked to consider herself one of that number. Charlotte had volunteered at the library almost up to the end of her life, never letting her physical ailments or the frailties of age prevent her from smiling and trying to lift someone else.
“She was always so proud of you,” Mary went on. “Especially because of what you came from.”
He gave a snort at that. “What I came from? Beverly Hills? Yeah. I overcame so much in life. I don’t know why nobody has come out with a made-for-television movie about my sad life.”
Mary made a face. “Charlotte was proud of many things about you, but perhaps most of all that despite every advantage you had, you always stayed grounded and didn’t let your head get turned by your mother’s fame or fortune. Now that I’ve met you, I understand what she meant. You’re a good boy, Flynn Delaney.”
She smiled and patted his hand again. Flynn looked a bit taken aback at anyone calling him a boy, but he only had time to give Aunt Mary a bemused sort of look before Olivia cut off anything he might have said in response.
“Are you ready, Daddy? I can’t wait to see Sparkle. I can’t wait.”
“Yes. I’m ready. We can grab our coats on the way out. Thank you all again.”
“You’re so welcome,” Faith and Hope said at the same time, almost as if they had rehearsed it. Chase and Rafe both nodded in the odd way men had of speaking volumes with just a simple head movement.
“Bye, Olivia. We’ll see you at the next practice,” Louisa said cheerfully.
They put on their coats quickly and headed out into the December evening.
The snow had increased in intensity, still light but more steady now. The air was still, though, with no wind to hurl flakes against them.
The night seemed magical somehow, hushed and beautiful with the full moon trying to push through the cloud cover.
Celeste was fiercely aware of him as they made their way to the barn. He was so very...male, from the jut of his jaw to his wide shoulders to the large footsteps his boots made in the snow beside her much smaller ones. He made her feel small and feminine in comparison.
To her relief, she didn’t have to make conversation. Olivia kept up a steady stream of conversation about the ranch. She couldn’t help noticing the girl had talked more that day than she had in all their previous encounters combined. Either she was more comfortable with Celeste now, or she was beginning to return to the girl she had been before the shooting.
If she wasn’t mistaken, the girl had hardly limped that afternoon or evening. That had to be a good sign, she supposed.
“Here we are,” she said when they reached the barn. The smell of hay and animals and old wood greeted them, not at all unappealing in its way.
She flipped on the lights and heard Mistletoe’s distinctive whinny of greeting. She took time as they passed the old horse to give Misty a few strokes and an apple she pulled from her pocket before she led them to Sparkle’s stall next door.
“Olivia, this is Sparkle. Sparkle, meet my good friend Olivia.”
After a moment of coyness, the reindeer headed to the railing of the stall.
“I’ve never seen a real reindeer before. He’s small!”
“Reindeer are generally much smaller than people think they should be.” She petted him, much the way she had Mistletoe. He lipped at her, trying to find a treat.
“Would you like to feed him an apple?”
“Can I?”
She glanced down at the girl and decided not to miss this opportunity. “I don’t know. You’ll have to use your left arm. He prefers it when people feed him from that side.”
That was an out-and-out lie. Sparkle would eat with great delight any apple that came his way, but she decided Olivia didn’t need to know that.
Flynn made a low sound of amusement beside her that seemed to ripple down her spine. She barely managed to hold back her instinctive shiver as she handed the apple to Olivia.
The girl narrowed her gaze at Celeste, obviously trying to figure out if this was some kind of a trick. In the end, the appeal and novelty of feeding a reindeer outweighed her suspicions.
She took the apple with her injured left hand and, with effort, held it out to the reindeer, who nibbled it out of her hand. Olivia giggled. “Can I pet him?”
“Sure. He won’t hurt you.”
She rubbed his head for a moment. “What about his antlers?”
“Go ahead. Just be gentle.”
She reached out and tentatively touched an antler. “It’s hard and soft at the same time. Weird!”
Sparkle visited with her for a moment, and it was plain he was happy to find a new friend. Any malaise the reindeer might have been feeling was nowhere in evidence. Maybe he really had been pining for her, but she doubted it. Maybe, like the rest of them, he just needed a little break from the hectic pace of the holiday season.
“What’s special about this particular reindeer?” Flynn asked.
She considered how to answer. “Well, he was the first reindeer Uncle Claude ever obtained, so he’s been here the longest. And he’s always been so much more affectionate than the others—not that they’re mean or anything, just...standoffish. Not Sparkle. He’s always bee
n as friendly as can be. It rubs off on everyone.”
They watched the reindeer a few moments longer. When she heard a little sound from the stall at the end of the barn, she suddenly remembered what other treasure the barn contained. Clearly, she didn’t spend enough time here.
“I nearly forgot,” she said. “There’s something else here you might like to see.”
“What?” Olivia asked eagerly. The girl loved animals; that much was obvious. Perhaps she and Flynn ought to look into getting a dog when they returned to California.
She didn’t want to think about that now, not when the night seemed hushed and sweet here in the quiet barn.
“Come and see,” she answered. She led the way and pulled open the stall gate. Olivia peered in a little warily but her nervousness gave way to excitement.
“Puppies! Dad, look!”
“I see them, honey.”
The half dozen black-and-white pudgy things belonged to Georgie, one of the ranch border collies.
“Can I pet them?”
“Sure. I’ll warn you, they’re probably not super clean. You’re going to want to wash your hands when you’re done.”
“I will. I promise.”
She knelt down and was immediately bombarded with wriggling puppies.
Celeste felt her throat tighten as she watched this girl who had been through so much find simple joy in the moment. Flynn had almost lost her. It seemed a miracle that they were here in this barn on a snowy night watching her giggle as a puppy licked her hand.
“She did all right today at the rehearsal,” she said in a low voice to Flynn as they watched together. “I know you were concerned about the noise and confusion, but she handled it well. Wouldn’t you agree?”
They were standing close enough together that she could feel his sigh. “I suppose.”
“Does that mean you’ll bring her to the next rehearsal, then?”
He gave a small sound that was almost a laugh. “Anybody ever tell you that you’re relentless?”
“A few times, maybe,” she said ruefully. More than a few was closer to the truth.
Needing a little distance, she eased down onto the bench next to the stall. To her surprise, he followed and sat beside her.
A Cold Creek Christmas Story Page 10